Turkey and the Palestinian Question: The Shift of Roles in Foreign Policy

Abstract

For Turkey, which was seeking a leading role in the Middle East, the Palestinian Question became a priority in its foreign policy during the late 1990s. In this article, it is argued that the role Turkey primarily espoused in the resolution of the Palestinian Question in the period 2000–2009 has mainly been that of a communicator. Nonetheless, in times of crises between Palestine and Israel, Ankara lost its neutrality and credibility to some extent, as it shifted to the role of guardian of Palestinians and proponent of Palestine, thereby undermining its communicator role. Finally, this dilemma in Turkish foreign policy in the Palestinian Question was the fundamental impediment to Turkey's sustainable and constructive contribution to the settlement of the problem in the examined period.

Battling for hearts and minds: Sources of Turkish, Iranian, and Saudi soft power in the Middle East

“…Therefore, the Quartet conditioned the extension of foreign aid to the Palestine National Authority (PNA) upon Hamas' recognition of Israel, its commitment to nonviolence, and its recognition of all previous agreements between Israel and the PNA. Turkey viewed Hamas as the elected representative of the Palestinian people and tried to persuade it to comply with the conditions of the Quartet (Ertosun, 2017, p. 210).…”